In the November issue of ENX magazine I interviewed various players from the supplies side of the office imaging industry about what’s hot, what’s trending, and what’s new. Participants included Luke Goldberg of MSE, Monte White of Supplies Network, Gary Willert of LMI, Eric Martin of Clover Technology, Jim Loparich of Pinnacle Sales, Eric Katz of Metrofuser, James Meyers of National Copy Cartridge, and Bob Willmes of Supplies Wholesalers.
The interview covered a lot more that what’s hot, what’s trending, and what’s new, but space considerations meant trimming the article down to a manageable length by eliminating some great questions. One of those questions cut was, “With all the emphasis you place on quality and reliability is that still a message that customers and prospects still need to hear from you?”
Here’s how the panel of experts responded.
Goldberg: Yes, it requires constant reinforcement because there is always the tendency to be tempted by the low hanging fruit that low price products offer. We have to constantly reinforce that the OEM is the real competition and the OEM customer offers the most challenging, yet most sustainable path for future growth and profitability. In addition, many other aftermarket players have tried to co-opt our message with unsubstantiated claims regarding the superiority of their products. We need to make sure that our dealers understand the difference between marketing subterfuge and tangible differentiation.
Willert: Absolutely, more of our customers focus on MPS contracts with their customers. They’re responsible for the cartridge and the quality and if the quality is not there they have to send a service tech out and that kills the profitability on that contract and obviously the yield. If they’re not getting the yield, then profits go down dramatically.
Katz: Absolutely. Quality and a high level of service are not just a message we want them to hear. We want quality to be a conversation between ourselves and our customers. We look into every warranty that comes back and encourage our customers to ask about our forensic analysis and seek preemptive technical support. We also are constantly educating our customers with information about such things as paper quality and dirty power.
Willmes: It depends on the customer segment. Two segments that it’s important to are MPS dealers and e-com resellers. For MPS dealers a defective cartridge can relate to a service call and every service call significantly affects the profitability of the MPS contract. No longer is it about is that cartridge defective, it can cause some damage, or they have to send a tech out because the user doesn’t know how to fix that error they’re getting related to the cartridge. The other market segment that should be conscious of defects rates is e-commerce because we’re providing the drop-ship fulfillment for them, meaning they’re stockless. There’s still a cost associated with them handling that defect from the phone call, e-mail, providing the return label, etc., etc.
White: It’s a message we continue to promote. Resellers make a choice about what their strategy is. They take either a cost approach based on lower priced product, which I think is more open to an import option and they might even overlook some of the legal ramifications of that. The larger MPS, traditional BTA players, most are receptive to the consistent quality message and that plays out with where Clover, MSE, LMI, and some of the other players in the market are coming from.
Martin: The emphasis Clover places on quality and reliability continues to resonate with our customers as well as with the end-users they service. It’s critical to our business and to theirs as well. More and more business customers are realizing the tremendous cost savings they can achieve using remanufactured cartridges, so our ability to consistently deliver high-quality products positions us to capitalize on this trend.
As a private label manufacturer, we are entrusted with the brand reputations of our customers. The products we manufacture under their private labels are a direct reflection of the brands they go to market with. It is imperative that we give our customers the best possible out-of-box experience so that they remain confident that the investment they make in our product line is a good one for their brands.
Loparich: Yes, in addition to fulfillment, delivery, customer service, support and price. Standing behind our product and being willing to financially cover any issues that arise speaks volumes to the dealer community.
Meyers: Absolutely. NCC stands firmly behind its product and we are on a continuous quality improvement path. Quality is a huge advantage when it comes to TCO. While price is seldom the most important element of TCO, it is the most tangible and it’s natural for us to focus on price as the most important element of a purchase decision. However, it is vital that our customers and end users properly value the cost of quality in their decision making process.
